The present invention relates to filter assemblies for filtering drinking water. More particularly, the present invention relates to a filter assembly that is provided as an integral component of an appliance, such as a refrigerator.
Filter assemblies that are provided as components of appliances are known in the industry. Nonetheless, there continues to be a need for filter assemblies that satisfy some of the deficiencies of the prior art filter assemblies. New filter assemblies should have increased effective life of the components of the filter assembly that actually do the water filtration. Further, since the cartridge of the filter assembly must be periodically replaced, there is a need to make the cartridge assembly as easily manufactured and as cost effective as possible. With respect to the manifold assembly that supports the cartridge assembly, where components require joining a maximum number of such components that convey water should preferably be joined by welding in order to minimize the possibility of possible leaks.
The filter assembly of the present invention substantially meets the aforementioned needs of the industry. A cartridge assembly that is a component of the filter assembly of the present invention includes a primary filtration device that is slidably disposed within a sleeve. The sleeve acts as a prefilter filtering out many components that would otherwise reduce the effective life of the primary filtration device. Additionally, by slidably disposing the primary filtration device within the sleeve a plurality of different manufacturing sources may be utilized for the sleeve and the primary filtration device with the selected sleeve and primary filtration device being married up late in the final assembly process. Additionally, flexibility is gained by providing for a plurality of different sleeve constructions that may be readily adapted to the cartridge assembly in order to meet any unique specifications of the end user.
In order to minimize leaks, extensive use of plastic welding techniques, including sonic welding, spin welding, hot plate welding, and electromagnetic assembly (EMA) and other such techniques are employed in conjunction with the water conveying components of the cartridge assembly. Additionally, hot melt type glue is utilized to fuse various components together as well as to create water tight seals in order to force the water being filtered through both the sleeve and the primary filtration device.
The various components comprising the manifold assembly of the filter assembly of the present invention also make substantial use of plastic welding techniques in order to minimize the manual coupling of various water conveying components. Such manual coupling is typically prone to leakage and, being manual, contribute to increased production cost.
A critical aspect of the manifold assembly of the filter assembly of the present invention is that, during replacement of cartridge assemblies on the manifold assembly, the water under pressure being supplied to the manifold assembly be automatically and positively shutoff, so that there is no spillage when the cartridge assembly is removed from the manifold assembly. Accordingly, a high flow, positive closing valve is disposed in the manifold assembly to ensure reliable shutoff as well to ensure a high rate of flow of water to be filtered into the manifold assembly when the cartridge assembly is mated thereto.
The present invention is a filter assembly for filtering water from an external source, the filter assembly including a manifold assembly mountable to an appliance and being in fluid communication with the external source and a cartridge assembly, the cartridge assembly being replaceably fluidly couplable to the manifold assembly, the filter assembly includes a first and a second fluid tube, the first fluid tube being fluidly couplable to the external source being an unfiltered fluid inlet, the second fluid tube being a filtered fluid outlet, the first and the second fluid tubes each having a barbed end for coupling to the manifold assembly. A tube retainer assembly is associated with each of the first and second fluid tubes, the tube retainer assemblies each having a port being fixedly couplable to the manifold assembly, the port having a retainer bore defined therein for receiving a tube barbed end therein, a retainer ring disposable on the tube, the retainer ring compressively engaging a barbed surface of the tube barbed end and being fixedly bondable to the port for forming a fluid tight seal between the fluid tube and the retainer assembly. The present invention is further a cartridge assembly and additionally a method of disengaging the cartridge assembly from a manifold assembly are also included.